Roads closed due to gas leak

By Sara Bruestle | May 08, 2013

Roads in Old Town were blocked off for more than an hour Thursday afternoon due to a break in a natural gas line.

A construction crew was working on a water line after 1:45 p.m. near the intersection of Washington Avenue and Goat Trail Road when a worker hit a gas line, causing a leak, according to the Mukilteo Fire Department.

The worker had accidentally cut into a three-inch natural gas pipe that was next to the water meter. A Puget Sound Energy crew was able to shut off the gas around 3 p.m., more than an hour later.

Mukilteo firefighters responded to the scene at 1:50 p.m. and called PSE to shut off the gas.

Roads around Washington Avenue and Goat Trail Road were closed while crews worked to clamp the gas line. The roads were back open by 3:10 p.m.

“The reason it took so long was because it was right next to the gas meter,” said Assistant Fire Chief Brian McMahan. “It was right at a ‘T.’ The gas was coming from more than one direction.”

The crew had to shut off gas to several homes off of Goat Trail Road. McMahan said the workers weren’t able to turn the gas back on until all of the appliances in each home were turned off.

McMahan said the gas line had been blowing for 70 minutes before the PSE crew of seven was able to clamp the pipe.

“You could hear it,” he said. “It was almost whistling out, making a high-pitched sound because it was coming out so fast.”

They were lucky that the wind on Thursday helped to dissipate the gas and minimize the risk of sparking an explosion, McMahan said.